Shoe inseaming machine with upper pre-tensioning means

ABSTRACT

A shoe inseaming machine for attaching an upper to an insole along an upstanding rib near the periphery of the insole, while both the upper and insole are positioned on a last, is provided with improved means for progressively pretensioning the upper on the last. The upper pre-tensioning means are lasting instrumentalities which comprise a lasting spur for engaging the upper and a lasting block for driving the upper cooperative to draw a marginal portion of the upper in a direction having vector components both normal and parallel to an insole-supporting surface of the last. Drawing the margin of the upper initially tensions the upper on the last. Preferably, means for resiliently driving the spur and block are provided.

Ued States atent 11 1 Collins et a1.

SHOE INSEAMING MACHlNE WITH UPPER PRE-TENSIONING MEANS Inventors: Richard A. Collins, Beverly; John F.

Martin, South Essex, both of Mass.

Assignee: USM Corporation, Boston, Mass.

Filed: Oct. 5, 1972 Appl. No.: 295,246

US. Cl. l2/l3.2, 112/35 Int. Cl. A43d 43/00, DOSb 15/02 Field of Search 12/9, 9.1, 8.4, 14.5,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary ExaminerPatrick D. Lawson Attorney-William R. Evans et a1.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A shoe inseaming machine for attaching an upper to an insole along an upstanding rib near the periphery of the insole, while both the upper and insole are positioned on a last, is provided with improved means for progressively pretensioning the upper on the last. The upper pre-tensioning means are lasting instrumentalities which comprise a lasting spur for engaging the upper and a lasting block for driving the upper cooperative to draw a marginal portion of the upper in a direction having vector components both normal and parallel to an insole-supporting surface of the last. Drawing the margin of the upper initially tensions the upper on the last. Preferably, means for resiliently driving the spur and block are provided.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU DEC 4 i975 SHEET 2 OF 4 PATENTEUHEE m 3175.795

SHEET l BF d SHOE INSEAMING MACHINE WITH UPPER 1 PRE-TENSIONING MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to improvements *in shoe inseaming machines in which an upper is attached to an insole along an upstanding rib near the periphery of the insole while both the upper and insole are positioned on a last. One type of such machine is an inseam sewing machine such as that disclosed in US. Letters Pat. No.

1,920,998, issued Aug. 8, i933 and No. 2,041,945, issued May 26, 1936, both in the name of Alfred R. Morrill. s

The machine disclosed in the above Morrill patents is intended to operate upon an upper and an insole of a shoe positioned and initially tensioned on a last before presentment to the machine. Temporarily securing marginal portions of the upper to the insole under tension initially tensions the upper. The insole is formed with an upstanding rib near but narrowly set back from an outer periphery of the insole. Staples were then inserted through marginal portions of the upper and a top edgeof the rib to temporarily secure the upper to the insole. The marginal portion of an upper so lasted then bridges across the angle of the insole rib and margin to form a triangular. gap into which the upper is drawn during the course of permanent attaching of the upper to the insole by inseam sewing instrumentalities of the machine. In this way, further tension is imparted to the shoe upper during inseam sewing. The increasedtensions, however, is not always uniform because the rib may distort toward the periphery of the insole under the tension of inseam sewing, resulting in greater tension on the upper where the rib does not distort than where the rib distorted. Non-uniform tension in the upper is detrimental to the appearance of a completed shoe and, under certain conditions, requires removal of the inseam and subsequent resewing. Further, temporarily securing the upper to the insole and releasing the temporary securing means after inseam sewing are operations collateral to the actual finished shoe.

Accordingly, efforts have-been made to uniformly pre-tension an upperabout a last prior to inseaming without temporarily attaching at least a portion of the upper to the insole. One attempt is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,077,844, issued Feb. 19, 1963, in the name of L. G. Miller. This patent discloses an inseam sewing machine having an awl for penetrating an upstanding marginal portion of an upper positioned on a last and an upstanding rib narrowly spaced from the outer periphery of an insole also on the last. After penetrating the upper and rib, the aw] withdraws and a needle penetrates the upper and rib through the hole made by the aw]. In addition, the machine is provided with upper pre-tensioning means comprising a spur cyclically engageable with the margin of the upper at a point closer to a periphery of the marginal portion of the upper than the point of needle engagement. The spur so engages the upper as to draw it heightwise of the last thereby imparting an initial tension to the upper both before and while the needle passes through the uppenThe lasting spur is mounted on a guide for the needle and operated by means for driving the needle. The spur is a relatively long, curved, cylindrical, needle-like instrument operable along a generally circular path to pretension the upper substantially heightwise of the last.

It has been found that the pre-tensioning operation of asdisclosed in U.SZ Pat. No. 3,341,873, issued Sept. 19,,

1967, in the name of L. G. Miller. In this latter patent the spur is made longer and provided with an upwardly inclined, chisel-like point to further increase upper pretensioning heightwise of the last. In additon, the path of the spur is brought closer to the ribon the insole to distort the rib toward interior area portions of the insole thereby improving flexibility of the shoe construction. Still further, a particular cycle of spur operation, in combination with anupper marginand insole ribpenetrating awl and needle, is disclosed to provide substantially continuous, supporting engagement of the shoe by the awl, needle and spur.'Still further, the spur is operative on both sides of an inseam stitch to cooperate with thread take-up means which progressively tighten each inseam stitch while and after the stitch is formed. In spite of these improvements, some temporary attaching of the upper to the insole continued to be required and some improvement in upper pretensioning about the last continued to be desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide improvedmeans for initially and progressively pretensioning an upper-on a last prior to inseaming the upper to a rib on an insole on the last.

To this end, the invention provides a shoe inseaming machine for attaching an upper to an insole along an upstanding rib near the periphery of the insole while both upper and insole are positioned on a last. The machine is provided with means for initially and progressively pre-tensioning the upper on the last comprising a lasting spur for engaging theupper and a lasting block for driving the upper cooperative to draw a marginal portion of the upper in a direction having vector components both normal and parallel to an insole supporting surface of the last. Preferably, independent and resilient means for driving the spur andblock are provided.

' BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment which is intended to be illustrative of and not a limitation on the invention will now be described with particular reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a front perspective view of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the machine in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of a resilient coupling in a different position from that shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view of operating instrumentalities of the machine shown in FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are views with the operating instrumentalities shown in FIG. 4 in different positions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows in phantom a shoe inseaming machine generally of the type described in each of the above recited patents. Operating instrumentalities shown in FIGS. 2, 4, 5 and 6 are located in an operating region generally at 10. A shoe upper and insole positioned on a last are presented insole or bottom side up to the instrumentalities in the operating region 10. As best seen in FIG. 4, the operating instrumentalities include a generally cylindrical, curved, oscillating awl 12; a generally cylindrical, curved needle 14 mounted for oscillation along a path intersecting that of the awl 12 at a marginal portion 16 of a shoe upper located in the operating region of the machine; and lasting instrumentalities generally at 18. The needle 14 freely slides through a supporting guide 17 on the lasting instrumentalities. Means such as an electric motor (not shown) rotationally drive a shaft 19 shown in FIG. 1 which extends through the machine and which is operatively connected through a cam on the shaft, a cam follower and a series of levers (none shown) to oscillate the awl l2 and needle 14. Except as hereinafter described, operation of the awl and needle is substantially as described in the above recited patents.

Unlike the apparatus disclosed in the above patents, the lasting instrumentalities are driven by a separate operative connection to the rotationally driven shaft 19. For driving the lasting instrumentalities, a cam 20 is mounted for rotation with the shaft. A cam follower 22 (shown in FIG. 2) is connected to one arm of a pivotably mounted bell crank 24, the other arm of which is connected to a resilient coupling generally at 26. The resilient coupling operatively connects the bell crank 24 with a bell crank 27 connected by a link 28 to one arm 30 of yet another pivotally mounted bell crank 32 on the other arm of which are mounted the lasting instrumentalities generally at 18. Rotation of the shaft 19 thereby causes the cam 20 to pivotally move each of the bell cranks to provide oscillating movement to the lasting instrumentalities 18. The extent and timing of arcuate movement of the lasting instrumentalities 18 is determined by the cam 20 and substantially corresponds in cyclical time with that described in the above recited Miller US. Pat. No. 3,341,873.

As best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the lasting instrumentalities, generally at 18, comprise a curved, generally cylindricahpointed lasting spur 34 and a lasting block 36 extending about and along the spur. An end face 38 of the block extends normally to a tangent to the curve of the spur 34 but spaced a short distance from the spur point. The block and spur are mounted for arcuate movement on an arm of bell crank 32 providing a radius of the arcuate movement substantially equal to the radius of curvature of the spur 34.

The upper marginal portion 16 and insole rib 40 are located by a guide 42 with an edge of the insole rib most remote from the lasting instrumentalities 18 aligned with a center line 44 of pivotal movement of the bell crank 32 with an insole supporting surface 46 of the last normal to the line 44. Accordingly, initial engaging penetration of the upper by the spur 34 will be in a direction substantially parallel to the insole supporting surface 46. The lasting instrumentalities continue to move from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. in which the end face 38 of the lasting block has moved at least to the center line 44 of pivotal movement and preferably a distance 45 farther.

The spur 34 penetrates the upper until the end face 38 of the lasting block engages the upper to positively drive the upper in the direction of movement of the lasting block. The direction of driving movement of the upper by the lasting block is substantially parallel to the insole supporting surface 46 in the immediate vicinity of the center line 44 while movement of the block beyond the center line 44 has a vector component of direction extending normally away from the insole supporting surface 46. Accordingly, the lasting instrumentalities draw the upper in a direction having vector components both parallel and normal to the insole supporting surface 46 to pre-tension the upper on the last. However, so long as the distance 45 of tension drawing movement past center line 44 is relatively small, most of the upper drawing movement is parallel to the insole supporting surface.

The guide 42 is laterally spaced from the lasting instrumentalities so as to permit the insole rib 40 to be deflected by grazing engagement of the rib with the spur 34 and the driving engagement of the upper by the end face of the lasting block. The rib thus inclines toward interior area portions of the insole to increase flexibility of shoe construction and resist deformation toward the periphery of the insole upon subsequent, increased thread tension of the upper on the rib.

During and after engagement of the upper by the lasting instrumentalities, the needle 14 penetrates the upper and rib at a point farther from the periphery of the marginal portions of the'upper than the point of engagement of the upper by the lasting instrumentalities. Thread is passed through the upper and insole rib by the needle, and sewing instrumentalities (not shown) form a stitch between the upper and insole rib. As the stitch is subsequently drawn tight, the upper is drawn into the generally triangular gap initially formed between the upper, insole and insole rib. Further, final tension is thus applied to the upper during the sewing operation.

The length of the spur 34 and block 36 determines the extent of uppermovement by the lasting instrumentalities for a given rotation of bell crank 32. Accordingly, the spur and block are adjustably mounted on the bell crank 32. I

The lasting spur has a relatively short upper engaging portion 47 extending from the end face 38 of the lasting block 36. Preferably, the portion 47 extends about oneeighth inch from the end face of the block to adequately engage the upper which may include lining, stiffening or like additional layers. The end face of the block has an area greater than the cross section of the spur 34 and preferably is about 3/ 16 inch high by onehalf inch wide. l

The driving engagement of the block with the upper imparts significant accelerating impulse to the upper to pre-tension the upper on the last. The entire upper, insole and last assembly reacts to the impulse which may make it difficult for an operator to guidingly hold the assembly in the machine. Accordingly, the resilient coupling 26 is provided to reduce the initial driving impulse of the lasting instrumentalities on the assembled insole, upper and last. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the resilient coupling comprises a pair of pivotable bell cranks 48 and 50 mounted on arms of bell cranks 24 and 27, respectively. The bell cranks 48 and 50 are pivotally connected at one arm and resiliently connected by a spring 52 at the other arm. The spring 52 normally holds the bell cranks 48 and 50 in fixed relation to each other so as to transmit pivotal movement from bell crank 24 to bell crank 27. However, when the lasting instrumentalities first engage the upper and particularly when the end face of the lasting block engages the upper, the initial accelerating impulse of the lasting instrumentalities on the upper is transmitted back through the driving linkage to the resilient coupling and the spring 52 extends to permit the bell cranks 48 and 50 to rotate relative to each other. A portion of the motion of bell crank 24 is then not transmitted to bell crank 27. As the lasting instrumentalities accelerate the upper, the impulse resistance of the upper will be reduced and the spring will return the bell cranks 48 and S0 to their original position. The full extent of desired lasting movement will then be transmitted from the cam to the lasting instrumentalities 18.

If, on the other hand, the upper in a particular region is already tensioned more strongly than in the region for which the extent of pre-tensioning movement of the lasting instrumentalities was orginally set, the spring 52 may not fully return the bell cranks 48 and 50 to their original position. The spring 52 then functions to more uniformly tension the upper than if the driving linkage for the lasting instrumentalities were rigid and required the already somewhat tensioned upper to receive the full extent of pre-tensioning movement selected for other regions of the upper. The resilient coupling thus performs two functions: to reduce the impulse initially imparted to the upper, insole and last by the lasting instrumentalities and to more uniformly tension the upper about the last.

Although our invention has been described in relation to an inseaming machine having sewing instrumentalities for forming the inseam, it is contemplated that it may be useful with other inseam forming instrumentalities. Still other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of our invention defined by the following claims:

- We claim:

1. In a shoe inseaming machine for attaching an upper to an insole while both are positioned on a last, lasting instrumentalities for progressively pretensioning the upper about the last which comprise: a lasting spur movable intoengagement with the upper; a lasting block on the spur for driving the upper into a pre-tensioned condition about the last; and means for oscillating the spur and block into and out of pretensioning engagement with the upper.

2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the lasting block has an end face and the lasting spur has a relatively short upper engaging portion extending from the face.

3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the means for oscillating the block are resilient.

4. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the means for oscillating the spur comprise a pair of bell cranks connected by a resilient coupling.

5. A machine as in claim 4 wherein the coupling comprises: a pair of two-armed bell cranks pivotably connected to each other at one arm and resiliently connected to each other at the other arm.

mg UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTEON Patent No. i 795 Dated December 4, 1973 Inventor(s) Richard A. Collins and John F. Martin It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below;

Claim 2, line 16, after face and before the period,

insert -of the block- Signed and sealed this 16th day of April 197L (SEAL) Attest: 4

EDWARD ILFLETGHERJ'R. G; MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. In a shoe inseaming machine for attaching an upper to an insole while both are positioned on a last, lasting instrumentalities for progressively pre-tensioning the upper about the last which comprise: a lasting spur movable into engagement with the upper; a lasting block on the spur for driving the upper into a pre-tensioned condition about the last; and means for oscillating the spur and block into and out of pretensioning engagement with the upper.
 2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the lasting block has an end face and the lasting spur has a relatively short upper engaging portion extending from the face.
 3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the means for oscillating the block are resilient.
 4. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the means for oscillating the spur comprise a pair of bell cranks connected by a resilient coupling.
 5. A machine as in claim 4 wherein the coupling comprises: a pair of two-armed bell cranks pivotably connected to each other at one arm and resiliently connected to each other at the other arm. 